D&D Publishing Information

This relates to some discussions I've had with Ron and may have some mild interest and utility for today's indie publisher, at least as food for thought.

From "It's only a game, or is it?", Moira Johnston, New West, August 25, 1980, p. 37:

"Gygax, a former shoe repairman, insurance underwiter, unpublished novelist, and unemployed gaming enthusiast, describes the phenomenal growth of D&D. 'In 1979 we sold a quarter of a million copies of the basic D&D set, a little better than double over 1978. Our gross sales volume has gone from $150,000 to 1975 to $2.5 million in 1979. We expect to double or triple everything this year.' Although FRP games still rank behind electronic games in national popularity, 'D&D is now equal to any board game, including Monopoly,' says Dana Lombardy, whose games column in Virginia-based Model Retailer magazine has closely monitored the rise of D&D and FRP. The most stunning measure of growth, Lombardy reports, is that 'of a total national FRP games market of $20 million in 1980, TSR will account for more than $5 million of that - at least 25 percent!' FRP wasn't even listed as a games category in 1974."

Later in the article Gygax and Lombardy both concur that the national 'scandal' over the James Dallas Egbert III disappearance boosted the company's profile incredibly. "Lombardy roars, 'They should raise a foundation to this Egbert kid. Except for the disappearance ofthat boy and the resulting national exposure, TSR could have remained a steadily growing hobby-game company instead of a skyrocketing one.' Even Gygax now admits that 'ultimately, it was immeasurably helpful to us in terms of name recognition. We ran out of stock!"

The things I find most interesting about this, other than the numbers:

a) Just like RPGs are tiny compared to computer games now, they were small compared to electronic games then (presumably the category included the handheld ones as well as stuff like the Atari 2600). This again seems to cut against the favored theory of many that rpgs are in competition with computer games.

b) More than Monopoly? Really? I suppose I can believe that in terms of annual sales because it was new, but it's still surprising.

c) Only a quarter? Runequest, Arduin, Chivalry and Sorcery, Bunnies and Burrows, and Traveller must have all been more profitable than I ever suspected. (Keep in mind that relatively successful games like Metamorphosis Alpha, Top Secret, Gamma World, Empire of the Petal Throne, etc. were TSR products too.) I suspect Lombardy may have been pulling this figure out of the air.